Deck 13: Managing Cultural Groups: From Small Work

Question 1

Discuss unions in France.

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

In which countries is strike activity generally brief and often taken to embarrass management?

A) the UK.
B) Germany.
C) Mexico.
D) Japan.
E) the US.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following statements is not true regarding strike activity?

A) as a country's prosperity increases, the strike activity tends to go down.
B) there is a relationship between job security and strike activity.
C) the number of days lost to strikes has declined in recent years.
D) workers strike more in tough economic times.
E) none of these.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following statements is true about the nature of strike action today?

A) there has been a general increase in activity since the 1970s.
B) there has been a shift in the nature of strikes to involve public services.
C) the number of days lost due to strikes has increased sharply.
D) strike activity still tends to focus on outcomes such as pay levels.
E) all of these are true.

Question 5

Which of the following countries has the least co-operative relationship between labor and employers?

A) Spain.
B) Brazil.
C) Venezuela.
D) South Africa.
E) Italy.

Question 6

Which of the following countries has the most co-operative relationship between labor and employers?

A) Germany.
B) Denmark.
C) Japan.
D) Taiwan.
E) the U.S.

Question 7

A method other than union activity by which employees participate and gain benefit from a company is

A) industrial democracy.
B) self-management.
C) worker participation.
D) board membership.
E) all of these.

Question 8

Work councils tend to be most common in __________ countries.

A) North American.
B) European.
C) Asian.
D) Middle Eastern.
E) African.

Question 9

Which of the following approaches to worker participation gives significant power to employees to combat management decisions and actions?

A) joint consultation committees.
B) work councils.
C) unions.
D) trade groups.
E) none of these.

Question 10

A method by which employees contribute to the management of a firm is called

A) worker participation.
B) self-management.
C) affinity plus.
D) joint ventures.
E) strategic alliances.

Question 11

National labor unions have a difficult time uniting internationally as

A) they tend to be political organizations concerned with national issues.
B) they can often benefit from the trouble of a union in another country.
C) they can often view unions in other countries as competitors.
D) because of all of these.
E) because of none of these.

Question 12

The International Labour Organization

A) is composed of representatives from employees, employers, and governments with each group having a say in policy formulation.
B) was created by the United Nations as part of a peace agreement ending World War I.
C) develops guidelines and standards for labor conditions and treatment.
D) has to work on a nation-by-nation basis to encourage countries to ratify its guidelines.
E) involves all of these.

Question 13

The national industrial unions in China have struggled to be effective in terms of protecting worker rights because:

A) the right to strike is still illegal.
B) the governemnt dictates the role of the union, to focus primarily on preventing worker unrest.
C) have not done a good job preventing worker unrest.
D) have a poor reputation and tend to conform to the party line.
E) all of these are reasons why the unions are ineffective.

Question 14

Which organization is a group of unions that tries to help national unions in their dealings with multinationals?

A) International Labour Organization.
B) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
C) International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
D) European Union.
E) Global Labor Force.

Question 15

Which country has the highest number of days lost due to strike activity?

A) Portugal.
B) Belgium.
C) Italy.
D) Japan.
E) Denmark.

Question 16

Groups of workers who sit on committees that deal with topics of mutual interest to workers and management are called

A) work councils.
B) worker participation groups.
C) self-management committees.
D) joint-consultation committees.
E) industrial democracy groups.

Question 17

The traditional communist approach to full employment, common in China, is called the

A) iron wok.
B) iron rice bowl.
C) hamburger-style management.
D) shunto.
E) none of the above.

Question 18

Discuss China's traditional labor relations and how its labor relations has evolved. Critique its national industrial unions.

Question 19

Define two international employee unions and their impact on multinationals

Question 20

Describe strike activity in the US

Question 21

Other than unions, describe two alternative forms of employee control/input

Question 22

What are some general trends in the nature of strike action today?

Question 23

Describe the difference between strike activity in Japan versus Germany.

Question 24

What is the relationship between group diversity and creative and problem-solving ability?

Question 25

List three advantages and three disadvantages of cultural diversity in groups

Question 26

Discuss the relationship between group productivity/social loafing and in-groups/out-groups.

Question 27

The concept of employees having input into how a business is run and recognition on the board of directors is called

A) union power.
B) joint management.
C) co-determination.
D) strategic alliance.
E) none of these.

Question 28

Which of the following is not true about unions in Germany?

A) union contracts are set up using industry-wide bargaining.
B) the main goals of the union are political.
C) the relationship between unions and management has been fairly cooperative.
D) attitudes toward labor unions have hardened.
E) trade concessions on working conditions and pay for job security.

Question 29

Which country's trade unions were initially formed and developed by religious and political groups?

A) the US.
B) the UK.
C) Taiwan.
D) the Netherlands.
E) Japan.

Question 30

One of the worst strikes in Japan, called the 100-day strike, occurred in which company?

A) Toyota.
B) Shell.
C) Nissan.
D) Honda.
E) Microsoft.

Question 31

All of the following statements are true about enterprise unions except:

A) consists of different workers in a company, regardless of their profession or vocation.
B) in-house unions represent only the employees of their respective companies.
C) membership to the union is open to part-time and temporary employees of the company.
D) the relationship between the union and the company is largely harmonious.
E) all of these statements are true.

Question 32

Which country has primarily enterprise unions?

A) Japan.
B) Sweden.
C) France.
D) Venezuela.
E) Hong Kong.

Question 33

Which of the following statements is true regarding unions in the UK?

A) they are powerful even though they have lost some influence in the past decade.
B) they play a major role in the Labour Party in Britain.
C) large companies generally negotiate with several unions.
D) unions comprise about 25 % of the workforce.
E) all of these.

Question 34

Union contracts in Germany are negotiatied on company-by-company basis.

Question 35

France's low level of union density reflects the fact that unions do not have to push for new members.

Question 36

Many experts predict that the increasing use of temporary and part-time workers will continue in Western Europe.

Question 37

The average Japanese employee strikes about four minutes a year.

Question 38

Strike activity in the U.K. is generally low due to the amount of government intervention in industrial relations.

Question 39

Union influence in France is greater than the percentage of unionized employees suggests because of its political enviroment.

Question 40

Independent unions with the right to strike have become legal in China.

Question 41

Union activity and influence is about the same across Asia.

Question 42

The percentage of union membership in industrialized countries is still high and rising.

Question 43

Unions in Sweden began as a socialist movement among manual workers.

Question 44

There has been an increase in the number of unions in Japan since 1990.

Question 45

Because of their ability to bring a variety of perspectives to the table, diverse groups may perform better than less diverse groups in the long term.

Question 46

Collectivist cultures tend to apply the same standard to in-groups and out-groups.

Question 47

The influence of unions is waning in Western Europe as the European Union has expanded eastward.

Question 48

"Moderately" heterogeneous teams do not perform as well as homogeneous or "highly" heterogeneous teams.

Question 49

Cultural diversity can be responsible for higher team performance.

Question 50

Which of the following countries has the highest union density rate?

A) Finland.
B) France.
C) US.
D) Korea.
E) Japan.

Question 51

National differences in union members can be tied to

A) the political leanings of the government
B) how wages are determined.
C) the size of the public employment sector.
D) historical and cultural factors.
E) all of these.

Question 52

Which is not a guideline to having a well-functioning multicultural team?

A) choose members based on ethnicity.
B) encourage members to recognize differences.
C) do not create "fault lines" among groups.
D) do not create "fault lines" among groups.
E) give team members equal status.

Question 53

Which of the following problems did Siemens AG, Toshiba, and IBM face when working together?

A) the Toshiba scientists would close their eyes in important meetings.
B) the Americans felt the Germans planned too much.
C) the companies initially stayed in their perspective groups.
D) little attention was given to group interaction.
E) all of the above.

Question 54

Because of the cultural mix among flight crews, airlines have adopted an approach called crew resource management (CRM) Which of the following statements is not true about CRM?

A) emphasizes recognition and acceptance.
B) encourages the free flow of information among crew members.
C) reflects a collectivist attitude.
D) reflects a high power distance attitude.
E) may be hard for American pilots to accept.

Question 55

Which of the following statements is not true about group performance?

A) diverse groups never perform better than homogeneous groups.
B) more diverse groups have trouble communicating with one another.
C) the more varied a group is, the more difficult time they have.
D) diverse groups take longer to become cohesive and set up ways of doing things.
E) all of these are true.

Question 56

Which country places the most emphasis on autonomy?

A) Belgium.
B) Taiwan.
C) Mexico.
D) Japan.
E) the Philippines.

Question 57

The ___________ perspective assumes we are all the same.

A) individual.
B) ethnocentrism.
C) parochialism.
D) homogeneous.
E) heterogeneous.

Question 58

Which of the following statements is true regarding collectivist cultures?

A) the type of group does not affect performance.
B) the type of group affects performance.
C) working within an out-group produces higher productivity.
D) working alone leads to higher productivity.
E) none of these.

Question 59

______________ tends to occur when one assumes that another group member will complete a task and that effort can then be directed toward his or her own goals.

A) social loafing.
B) increases in productivity.
C) personal achievement.
D) teamwork.
E) socializing.

Question 60

Collectivist cultures value all groups the same as cooperation with in-group members.

Question 61

Using a pay-for-performance approach in a collectivist culture may be the best bet for improving performance.

Question 62

Americans tend to be most productive when working independently.